The notion that too much branding leads to a loss of credibility isn’t always true. Google’s viral video, Dear Sophie, is an advertisement for Google Chrome that contained a significant amount of branding for applications like Gmail, YouTube, and Google Maps. According to a survey with more than 900 respondents undertaken by BuzzStream and Fractl, the Google brand gained credibility with the video. However, 86% of the respondents incorrectly identified the brand that was supposed to be the focus of the video. As part of the survey, respondents had to watch the video without seeing the Chrome logo appear at the beginning and end of the video. The Google advertisement had so much variety in terms of branding that it confused viewers, leaving 80% of them thinking that the focus of the video was Gmail. Is this a case of too much branding? Although viewers didn’t identify Google’s Chrome browser as the focus of the video, it still had a positive impact on the overall perception of the brand.

We know that finding and getting in touch with active bloggers is a big deal. A blog might be the perfect fit for your outreach efforts, but if they post infrequently or have gone dark completely then you are just spinning your wheels.

Now, you can filter your searches in BuzzStream to guarantee you are connecting with influencers that post as frequently as you need.

Introducing RSS Filters

Our new RSS filters give you the ability to set specific parameters around both post frequency and last post date. You can use these filters to quickly focus your efforts on influencers who maintain an active posting schedule.

BuzzStream customers can access the RSS filters right now by clicking on the “Filter” button then navigating down to “Scoring and Metrics”.

Let Us Know What You Think!

Please let us know what you think – drop us an email at support@buzzstream.com, leave a comment, or tweet us @BuzzStream. We read every single message, and we’d love to hear from you as we continue to make BuzzStream more powerful and easier to use.

Why do publishers pick some pitches over others? Basic psychology may play a bigger role than you think.

A bright red dress is more likely to catch your attention over a more neutral option. You’re more likely to take a sip from a drink if a person you’re sitting with drinks first (go ahead, watch this in action at lunch tomorrow). There are a myriad of conscious and subconscious stimuli that affect the decisions we make every day, and that applies to publishers and their pitch choices, too.

BuzzStream and Fractl uncovered several psychological theories that can give you an edge in influencer marketing. These four takeaways can get you inside publishers’ heads – and get your content into their publications.

When it comes to options, less is more.

Publishers are eager for opportunities to collaborate. In a publisher study, 70% of editors and writers said they’d rather be pitched opportunities to work with marketers on stories rather than receive finished assets. Providing choices in your pitch gives influencers more flexibility to craft the story they want to publish and can give your promotion efforts a significant psychological advantage. But don’t overdo it with options; research suggests that too many choices can be overwhelming and cause people to decide to pass on the opportunity altogether.

As the internet has become increasingly pervasive, establishing a brand presence and making your content easy to find online has become more important than ever. Consumers have become savvy to – and frequently annoyed by – tactics like mass emails and paid advertising. This means you have to work harder to get your product or service in front of the right consumers, and this is where link building comes into play.

BuzzStream and Fractl have collaborated to review the trends in outbound versus inbound marketing techniques and tell you why link building is essential to your digital strategy. By analyzing reported results, costs, and trends in online marketing, we show you how to judge for yourself whether the ROI is worth the investment for your brand.

What link building achieves

The most important thing to understand about link building is the results this strategy can achieve, especially in comparison to old PR methods.

Consider this: According to research from Nielsen and GroupM UK, only 6% of search engine users click on paid ads, but 94% click on organic search results. When it comes to earning click-through in organic results, however, ranking has an impact that can’t be understated. 90% of users will click on one of the first three results when searching for branded terms, and 61% will stay within the first three results for non-branded term searches. The average for clicks below the first three results is just 32%, meaning that your content needs to rank highly in order to earn the most traffic from organic search.

Planning your content strategy for 2015? Here’s some good news: You don’t need a crystal ball to predict which formats (or content types) will help you meet your social media benchmarks. BuzzStream and Fractl have crunched the numbers to figure out which content types earn most shares, the formats that are evergreen for social sharing, and the monthly patterns that highlight content format risks – and rewards .

Using BuzzSumo, we tracked 220,000 pieces of content from 10 high- and 10 low-engagement domains over the course of six months. From June to November 2014, we followed the formats that earned the most social shares in 11 verticals. By analyzing how-to articles, lists, what posts, why posts, and videos, we discovered which yield strong, consistent returns and which are potential risks.

Evergreen formats

If your brand is the conservative type, opt for lists and why posts. These formats earned the most shares over a six-month period and varied the least in their performance month-to-month.

Web searches are one of the best indicators of public interest. That fact is a basic underpinning of online marketing and SEO tactics – but what can web searches tell us about these very same industries?

Inspired by the year-end Google Trends campaign, we decided to look at some of the most common keywords from our own profession to see what terms are falling and rising in popularity. By using Google Trends to analyze seven years’ worth of data – from January of 2008 to November of 2014 – on 20 words related to online marketing terminology, design, and strategies, we created a review of the evolution of the industry and some predictions for its future. This new marketing trend report gives us a long-term global analysis as well as more recent regional insights.

Ever wish you could be a fly on the wall and overhear dozens – maybe even thousands – of conversations at once? We decided to eavesdrop on the discussions surrounding some of the most popular terms in the digital PR industry to find out what top influencers have to say about hot topics. This glimpse of influencer marketing on Twitter gives us an idea of the current state of the industry and where it may be headed.

BuzzStream and Fractl joined forces and utilized Peer Index, Twitonomy, and the Alchemy API to analyze nearly 5,000 tweets and learn more about these hashtags and keywords:

Media Relations

Influencer Marketing

Digital PR

Outbound Marketing

Brand Recognition

Earned Media

PR

Public Relations

Publicity

Press Release

From this study we found the tweet types, sentiments, and key influencers in the marketing discussion on Twitter. You can download our raw data to dive deep into the findings or read on for our key takeaways.

If you know that all caps is like online shouting, excessive exclamation points are unprofessional, and emojis are content marketing mistakes, then you have passed Content Promotion 101. With your grammar basics mastered, the next step in good publisher relations is understanding the more nuanced pet peeves that hurt both your placement rates and your reputation.

If you’re not sure what causes publishers to delete (or worse, autodelete) pitches, then the Media Relations Guide to Etiquette is the eBook for you. BuzzStream and Fractl reviewed media guides and surveyed top-tier publications to learn the worst practices plaguing our industry. Their responses revealed 25 tactics that turn publishers off no matter how good your content is.

Check out eight of the most lamented content promotion fouls here, then download the free eBook to learn what else to nix from your pitches.

#10: Self-promotional pitch

“Many [PR professionals] have a misunderstanding when it comes to the difference between advertorial and guest posts.” The Gigaom guest post policy speaks for the majority of publishers in reminding us that publishers want to be pitched high-quality news and content, not advertisements for your brand.

#9: Generic angle to a common study

Publishers aren’t in the business of regurgitating information everyone already knows, and you shouldn’t be either. Instead, 66% of publishers want you to bring something new to the table with exclusive research or breaking news. This doesn’t mean you have to embark on a PhD-level investigation. Instead, follow trends relevant to your industry and capitalize on your insider knowledge.

#8: Copy of a press release

While a press release can contain valuable information, 95% of publishers told us that this isn’t a content format they’re interested in. Instead:

Social shares are what amplify your message beyond a publisher’s landing page. The more shares you earn, the more eyes see your brand and the wider your pool of prospective customers becomes. But which influencers earn traction on which social networks – and in which verticals?

Understanding how verticals, publishers, and platforms work together will help you pitch the right content to the right publishers and amplifiers to earn the most shares possible. Targeting your promotion efforts to maximize your potential for social traction is an important step in creating an effective and efficient viral strategy.

To get you started, BuzzStream and Fractl analyzed 220 websites from 11 major verticals that actively produce content:

I originally planned to separate this year’s top posts into three categories: PR, SEO, and Content Marketing. However, after checking Google Analytics, I realized that all of our top posts are about the places where PR, SEO, and Content Marketing intersect. In case you missed any of them, or because a re-read is always nice, here they are for your reading pleasure:

Many content marketers view “promotion” as a phase that begins once content goes live. The truth is, promotion should begin much earlier than that, running parallel to production, and most of the promotion work should be completed before launch. This posts includes a framework you can use for your next content campaign.